In 2015 Joe McKeehen won the biggest poker tournament on earth, the World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event. For the win he earned more than $7.6 million and his first gold bracelet. Just two years later McKeehen has won yet another $10,000 buy-in hold’em championship, only this time around the game was limit hold’em. McKeehen outlasted a field of 120 players to win his second bracelet and the top prize of $311,817.

“It felt good!” McKeehen told WSOP reporters when asked if this win could ever compare to his win in the main event. “I like this game! This game’s fun.”

As is to be expected with a $10,000 buy-in WSOP championship event, the final day of this tournament saw McKeehen joined by several of poker’s top stars all vying for the bracelet. Among those who made the final day were Jon Turner (14th – $17,894), six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (13th – $17,894), two-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (12th – $21,318), three-time bracelet winner and defending champion of this event Ian Johns (11th – $21,318), Terrence Chan (8th – $32,443), Ray Henson (7th – $41,399), two-time bracelet winner J.C. Tran (5th – $71,949), another two-time WSOP winner in Ben Yu (4th – $97,904) and Sorel Mizzi (3rd – $135,985).

“It’s a $10,000 tournament,” said McKeehen after outlasting all those top opponents. “Here, they’re all going to be really tough at the end. All the good players come out for them.”

McKeehen began the day as the second shortest stack with 14 players remaining, but was able to survive and thrive. By the time all of those other accomplished players had hit the rail McKeehen was in the lead, taking a 3-to-2 chip advantage into heads-up play with Jared Talarico, a mixed-game specialist from Houston, TX. McKeehen had plenty of praise for his final opponent.

“He played really good, he played aggressively,” said McKeehen. “He’s tough. I started making a lot of good hands in heads-up, and a lot of my bets were getting through.”

In the end McKeehen was able to keep the pressur on and grind Talarico down to just one big blind. On his final hand he was forced to put his last chips in the middle with the 43. McKeehen made the call from the button with the 105 and the board ran out QJ85A to pair McKeehen’s five, earning him the pot and the title. Talarico was awarded $192,717 for his runner-up showing.

McKeehen also earned 660 Card Player Player of the Year points as the winner of this event. This was his third title and fourth final table finish of the year so far and as a result he has moved into 13th place on the overall leaderboard, which is presented in 2017 by Commerce Hotel and Casino.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

PlacePlayerEarnings (USD)POY Points

1
Joseph McKeehen
$311,817
660

2
Jared Talarico
$192,717
550

3
Sorel Mizzi
$135,985
440

4
Ben Yu
$97,904
330

5
J.C. Tran
$71,949
275

6
Robert Campbell
$53,995
220

7
Ray Henson
$41,399
165

8
Terrence Chan
$32,443
110

9
Aaron Sacks
$26,000
55

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2017 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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